keralamonitor.com Saddam Son In Law Arrested
DOHA, April 22 -- The US Central Command confirmed Tuesday the capture of Jamal Mustafa Abdullah Sultan, deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's only surviving son-in-law, who was handed over by an Iraqi opposition group.Jamal, who ranked No. 40 in the US list of 55 top Iraqi fugitives, was in the hands of the coalition forces, Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks confirmed at the war command headquarters in Qatar.
The leading Iraqi opposition Iraqi National Congress (INC) announced Sunday that it succeeded in persuading Jamal to surrender after his return from Syria and would hand him to the US forces. Jamal, married to Saddam's youngest daughter Hella, was the only close member of Saddam family detained so far. He had served as the Deputy Minister for Tribal Affairs and as deputy to Saddam's secondson Qusay in the Special Security Organization, SSO.Meanwhile, Mohammad Hamza al-Zubaidi, a regional commander and member of the most powerful Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, was captured in south of Baghdad by Free Iraqi Forces and handed over to US custody Monday. He was No. 18 on the US want list.
So far, eight of the 55 most wanted Iraqi officials have been arrested since the United States issued the list on April 11.Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Abd al-Khalq Abd al-Gafar, No. 43, was captured Saturday by US special forces.The other five top Iraqi officials detained so far included two of Saddam's half brothers, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, who ran Iraqiintelligence from 1979 to 1983, and Watban al-Tikriti, the former Interior Minister.
Barzan, No. 52, was arrested in Baghdad on April 17 during a special forces operation, while Watban, No. 51, was caught in northern Iraq on April 13.Before their arrests, Saddam's top scientific adviser Amer Hammoudi al-Saadi, No. 55, voluntarily turned himself in to US forces on April 12.
On April 17, US special forces captured Samir al-Aziz al-Najim, the former ruling Baath Party's regional command chairman for east Baghdad who ranked No. 24 on the US want list.On April 19, Iraq's new police force arrested Finance Minister Hikmat Ibrahim al-Azzawi and handed him over to US forces in Baghdad. He ranked No. 45 on the US want list.But so far there has been no sign of Saddam and his two sons Qusay and Uday despite the massive US manhunt launched after US forces took over Baghdad on April 9.
US rules out toxins in suspicious powder
LOS ANGELES, April 22 -- US Homeland Security officials has said the comprehensive test of a suspicious powdery substance found in Washington State showed that it is not biotoxin. According to a CNN report, the powder was found in two envelopsearly on Tuesday at a mail distribution center in Tacoma, Washington, and the initial test by the Tacoma Fire Department indicated that it might be the toxins that cause botulism and plague. But further tests by a mobile laboratory from the Washington National Guard shows a different conclusion.
The officials emphasized that initial field tests often prove to be inaccurate. All 93 employees in the mail center were evacuated and four of them were taken to hospital, according to Gerry McKiernan, a spokesman for the US Postal Service.
US renews terror caution for Americans
WASHINGTON, April 21 - The United States warned its citizens on Monday of the worldwide potential threat of terror attacks against American civilians as a result of US-led war in Iraq."Tensions remaining from the recent events in Iraq may increasethe potential threat to US citizens and interests abroad, including by terrorist groups," the State Department said in a statement.
The statement urged US citizens worldwide to be vigilant to such terror actions as kidnappings, suicide bombings, and chemicalor biological agents. The targets of these attacks "may include facilities where American citizens and other foreigners congregate or visit, such as residential areas, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, hotels, outdoor recreation events or resorts and beaches," it said.
Chief UN inspector wishes to do further inspection work independently
UNITED NATIONS, April 22 -- Chief UN weapons inspectorHans Blix voiced confidence Tuesday that the Security Council would want his inspection team to return to Iraq. Blix also expressed intention to continue inspections independently.
"In the absence of guidance to the contrary from the council, it would be our intention to submit a next quarterly UNMOVIC (UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission) report for theperiod March 1 to June 1," Blix told the 15-member council in a closed meeting. Meanwhile, he underlined that it is evident that the situation in Iraq is still insecure and "where military considerations and measures dominate, civilian international inspection can hardly operate."
He stressed that the mandate for his work remains unchanged andhe would do the inspection work independently. "The inspecting authorities would need to remain independent ofall individual governments and authorities to retain internationalcredibility in their work for the council," he told the council.
He said he will not act as the head of UNMOVIC after his contract expire in June. "I did not want (my mandate) to run beyond the month of June and I have subsequently made it known that I do not wish to prolong it," he said. "The purpose of the setting up of the UNMOVIC was to have an independent verification, one that was not on leash from any government and I am sure that the council would want to persist inthat attitude," Blix told reporters after the meeting.
Asked whether it was possible to have full credibility in what the United States might find in Iraq without UN inspectors' involvement, he replied: "We may not be the only ones in the worldwho have credibility. But I think we do have credibility for beingobjective and independent."
Blix said he would discuss with the Council his readiness to goback to Iraq but also "the need for some signals and adjustments of the basis for our work there by the Security Council. We are serving the Council, as you know."
Kuwait to open up exports to Iraq
KUWAIT CITY, April 22 The Kuwaiti Commerce Ministry announced Tuesday that the oil-rich Gulf state will open up exportsto Iraq without any restriction.Any businessman would be allowed to export foodstuff or other goods to Iraq, Salah Abdurreda Khorshid, minister of Commerce and Industry, said in a statement.
One of the ministry's priorities is to boost the trade sector and remove any obstacles facing the flow of exports and imports, the statement said.Iraq invaded and occupied kuwait in August 1990 and was evicted out of the small emirate by the US-led multinational coalition forces in the 1991 Gulf War. Kuwait has been a launching pad for the US-led war against Iraq which broke out on March 20 this year and the US-led coalition forces gained control of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad after more than 20 days of fighting.
CBI chargesheets Shiela Kaul in housing scam case
New Delhi,Tuesday, April 22, 2003: Almost seven years after the housing scam was unearthed, CBI today chargesheeted the then Union Urban Development Minister Shiela Kaul and two of her personal staff for allegedly making out of turn allotment of Government accommodation in return for "undue favours".
The chargesheet filed before Special Judge Prem Kumar alleged that Kaul, during her tenure as Union Minister, in conspiracy with Additional Private Secretary Rajan P Lala and Personal Assistant R K Sharma made the allotments "thereby earning huge pecuniary advantages". The court fixed May 5 for considering the chargesheet.
During the period 1991-1995, the trio entertained applications from the aspirants directly without routing them through normal official channel, the agency alleged adding Kaul ordered allotment on the body of the application itself while asking Director of Estates to examine the case and put that up for her orders.
The allotments deprived government servants waiting for "in turn allotment" for 25 to 30 years, it said and added Sharma and Rajan "extorted huge sums of illegal gratification from the applicants".
Whenever the Director of Estates used to point out the irregularities, Kaul and others used to discard them and order him to implement the order, the chargesheet alleged. CBI had taken up the investigation of the case in 1996 following a direction by the Supreme Court which had heard a PIL on the matter.CAG pulls up Govt for violating CVC guidelines
New Delhi,Tuesday, April 22, 2003: Sounding a warning ahead of clearance of several weapon acquisition projects, the Comptroller and Auditor General today pulled up the Defence Ministry for violating CVC guidelines on purchase of thousands of rounds of 57mm rockets and buying of laser guidance kits with reduced shelf life.
Asking the Government to stick to prescribed purchase procedures, the CAG in its latest report said in violation of the guidelines of the CVC a contract for the supply of 82,491, 57 rockets for the IAF at a total cost of Rs 931.3 millions was concluded with a Bulgarian vendor Kintex whose offer was not the lowest.
Similarly, it said IAF had resorted to emergency purchase at higher prices from a single vendor of laser guidance kits for precision bombing of targets during Operation Vijay involving an estimated additional expenditure of 363.9 million.  In a sharp criticism of Defence Ministry citing emergency purchases as reasons for defaulting on procedures, the CAG said though laser kits were sought to be brought to bring up deficiency in war wastage reserves, delays in procurement of penetration bombs had led to the shelf life of these kits been reduced considerably by the time deliveries were completed.
Pulling up the IAF for not maintaining minimum war reserves, the report said this had led to the services having no option but to negotiate on single vendor basis.Network Associates to consolidate network security expertise in the region with acquisition of IntruVert Networks
IntruVert's intrusion protection technology blocks network attacks
to provide real-time protection against threatsApril 22, 2003
Network Associates Inc., a global leader in network security and availability solutions, which recently clinched a US$ 100 million deal to acquire IntruVert Networks, a provider of network-based intrusion protection technology, will leverage the new expertise to considerably enhance the industry-leading network security solutions in the region.
Network Associates, which opened a regional office in Dubai Internet City last year, is aggressively targeting the Middle East markets to provide a portfolio of leading edge security and anti-virus solutions.
"It is vital for organizations to adopt a proactive approach to protect their networks, as security susceptibilities become progressively more complex internationally as well as regionally," said Patrick Hayati, Regional Director of Network Associates in the Middle East. "IntruVert's next-generation intrusion protection technology offers this proactive approach to preventing attacks. Traditional intrusion detection systems are not capable of providing true blocking capability. They can only identify attacks that may be occurring. Security threats are constantly evolving, with new network attacks, viruses, worms and Trojan horses created almost daily."
IntruVert Networks is a privately held company that created the industry's first architecture offering real-time network intrusion detection and prevention system for enterprise and government networks. These innovative technological systems help protect even the most demanding networks from the threat of known and unknown attacks.
"Middle East organizations must recognize that their networks will be under attack at some point and they must implement solutions that are capable of actually blocking the attacks," Hayati added. "Network Associates is dedicated to providing innovative security solutions to help our customers within the Middle East protect their networks. The IntruVert solution is perfectly aligned with our vision of stopping any attack that gets inside the firewall. We will now have the capability of reliably blocking network attacks at multi-gigabit speeds, which is a dramatic improvement over existing intrusion detection products."
"With this acquisitions, Network Associates will build on its core expertise in both computer systems defense capabilities and network defense systems capabilities," Hayati said. IntruVert Networks offers customers network-based intrusion detection appliances, the IntruShield 4000 and IntruShield 2600. The appliances analyze network traffic at multi-gigabit rates to accurately detect and block an attack. IntruVert also offers a centralized, web-based management system with flexible environment configuration, security policy management, forensic analysis, and response management tools.
